Hamilton (New Zealand), Mar. 20 : New Zealand fast bowler Chris Martin is of the view that except for Indian opener Virender Sehwag, most batters respect a decent ball when it is delivered to them.

"Bowling to the likes of Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar was not as daunting. Most of the players will respect a decent ball apart from Sehwag," a smiling Martin said.

Martin, who has played 46 Tests for New Zealand, is featuring in his first series against India.

Sydney, Mar. 20 : White Ferns coach Gary Stead has demanded that his side impose themselves on England with the aggressive style that got them within sight of their second World Cup women''s cricket title.

New Zealand enter their fourth World Cup final on Sunday as underdogs against the form side of recent years, who racked up 17 consecutive wins in completed one-day internationals until yesterday''s defeat to Australia which had no bearing on the decider.

Guyana (West Indies), Mar. 20 : Former England cricket captain Kevin Pietersen is insisting that he does not want to lead the side in this summer's Twenty20 World Cup.

In an interview with his Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports to be aired today, Pietersen emphatically said `No' when asked whether he could be persuaded to lead England in the World Twenty20.

New Delhi, Mar 19 : The owner of the IPL franchise Bangalore Royals, Vijay Mallya, on Thursday backed the tournament to pass off smoothly.

Addressing reporters here, Mallya said India had all the resources required to provide security during the tournament.

Sydney, Mar 19 : India on Thursday defeated West Indies by eight wickets, but the result was not good enough to ensure them a place in Sunday’s final of the ICC Women’s World Cup. India will now face Australia on Saturday to determine the third and fourth places.

For making to the final, India needed to beat the West Indies and hoped that New Zealand would go down to Pakistan and England beat Australia in their respective Super Six matches.

Cape Town (South Africa), Mar. 19 : An unwell Australian middle-order batsman Marcus North is still likely to feature in the squad that takes on South Africa in the third Test that starts here today.

The 29-year-old left-hander made a century on debut in last month''s Johannesburg Test and is a key member in Australia''s batting line-up, especially with no reserve batsman in the squad.

"There''s no other batters here to bring in," Australia captain Ricky Ponting said.